Guardian Angels
by SiennaBrown
Summary: Ed meets an angel, and has a difficult mission to attend to. EdxWinry


The dark-haired girl was **still **there. Every day, Edward had gone by this one spot for one reason or another, and she was always there. It was extremely unnerving to have to walk past the blue-eyed female. For some reason, whenever he passed her he wanted to talk to Winry. He decided to ask the girl what she was doing. He turned to face her, and she was staring quite unblinkingly at him. It gave him, the unshakable, confident Fullmetal Alchemist, the creeps.

"What are you doing?" The girl finally blinked.

"I'm just waiting for someone." Ed gave her one of those 'I'm not buying this' faces. She smiled a bit.

"You're just funny to stare at. You make the weirdest faces while you think." Rolling his eyes, the alchemist started off for the train station. He had a mission to do, and this random girl wasn't going to make him miss the stupid train. "Be careful!" He turned around, and she was smiling and waving at him.

"Wha?" Suddenly, she was gone.

"That was weird." Ed continued on his way to the train station, the oddity of the morning settling into a small nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

Natalie laughed to herself as she flew above the treetops.

"Of course he noticed me, I was staring like a schoolgirl." She flapped her grey wings so she would catch up with the train. Her orders were to 'make sure he comes back alive, this mission is a doozy.' She had kept an eye on him so she would be able to gauge what his reactions would be like, and he was very...odd. Interesting, at the very least. She quietly landed on top of the speeding train, and folded her wings. Normal people couldn't see them, but if they felt something feathery brush against them they'd have a heart attack. She poked her head over the side to catch a glimpse of Edward's bobbing yellow head. Good, she was on the right car. She settled in for a long ride.

Ed got the annoying feeling that he was being watched. He glanced around the train, and something moved out of the corner of his eye. He checked the window, but it was just the scenery flying by. Promptly deciding he was paranoid, he sat more comfortably in the seat. Al was studying at the medical college and couldn't come with him. "Of course, Colonel Mustard knows this." He glared at the ceiling. This was going to be a boring trip. A few hours later, he dragged himself off the train at the stop nearest his destination. He yawned; it was getting late. A shadow flew above him, and he glanced up. A bird? He trotted off to find a trail to the 'ghost-town' he was assigned to go to.

Natalie let out a sigh of relief. It might be ten, but she should still be careful of shadows! Following close behind Ed, she hoped this mission wouldn't go too badly. He was on the path, and the empty city wasn't too far away. She glared at him. It was very stupid to go to a place that's dangerous without being fully equipped. He had probably slept on the train, but it was still pretty late.

"Stupid boy." She flew a bit before him, careful of her shadow. Edward was way too good at knowing when he was being watched.

Edward gathered his bearings, and quietly entered the city. It was way too silent to have any inhabitants. Warily, he checked around corners; Mustang had told him to be on the lookout for chimeras, and he really didn't want to have to deal with the things. He glanced at the sky, uncomfortable with the silence. He saw a dark figure on top of the building he was standing under. Moving away as quickly as possible, the blonde saw it had wings. With a hunched form. It was a chimera.

Natalie just about bashed her head on the corner of the building when Ed looked up. _Stupid!_ She stood up as he backed away. There was no use hiding it now. She retreated, and hopped off the back of the building. Spreading her wings, she took flight. He was running towards the west side, which was where his quarry was. Unfortunately, that's also where the real chimeras were. She had a moment where she really wanted to slap some sense into the idiot, but got over it as a hulking chimera slammed into Ed.

With the breath knocked out of him, he flew across the street. Where did that come from? He quickly got his footing, and got a look at the creature he was fighting. It seemed like a boar, wolf and jellyfish had been melded together. Knowing that the only- he shuddered to remember it- _human_ chimeras had expressed extreme pain, the alchemist felt bad for his prey. Pulling out the blade, he prepared for a fight.

"HOLD UP!" Ed looked at where the voice came from. It was the girl from before! But how was this possible? She hadn't been on the train, he had watched the doors at every station out of habit and she hadn't gotten on at any of them.

Natalie knew it was entirely against protocol, but she saw bad things happening with this. Edward's eyes were as big around as basketballs. She glided to the ground, and stood in front of Ed.

"Move it, bub. You're not needed at this place." She watched as he blinked, probably very confused about meeting her here, with wings.

"Y-you're a chimera?" She bristled.

"NO! Of course not!" Edward's attacker had been stunned long enough, and began its charge. Natalie whirled around and somehow sent the thing flying.

Edward was still very shocked. Not a chimera, but she had wings! How could she not be!? He vaguely saw the chimera roll across the street. Yellow eyes stared at the dark haired girl.

"How? Wait, why are you here?" She tilted her head, dark hair moving in not so graceful curtains.

"I'm keeping an eye on you." He glared, "Let me guess, Mustang sent you?" She glared right back at him.

"No, try again. What other mythical creatures do you know of that have wings?" Ed laughed.

"Mustang's a mythical creature now?" She shook her head, frowning.

"You know what I'm talking about. With halos, usually? Wearing white, ungodly pretty?" The teen felt his mouth drop open. Being an athiest like most alchemists, he really didn't think angels existed.

"What?" _Oh, I get it. I must be going insane, or maybe I'm just imagining things. Either way, this is most definitly not real. _Edward began walking away.

"Excuse me? Are you always this rude?" The girl caught up to him quickly.

"You don't exist." She laughed.

"Oh, I get it. You're in shock, that's it." He glanced her way. She was smiling, and keeping good pace with him even though he was practically sprinting.

"I don't believe you." She looked slightly hurt. He felt guilt sweep through his brain.

"I can understand that, but I'm serious. I mean, it's not like I'm your average angel, I'm just a guardian one. I'm here to look after you." This got him very angry. If she was looking after him, how the heck had he gotten into this mess?

"If you're here to 'look after me' then why the heck haven't I seen you before now!?" She stared straight ahead.

"It's against protocol." He glared, "If it's against protocol, then why did you show yourself now?" He stopped running, barely winded.

"Listen you, just 'cause your asking doesn't mean I have to answer. You should know more than anybody what it's like to have to keep secrets!" He had gotten her mad. And he got mad just thinking about it. Damn, he really wanted to see Winry. He turned and kept walking.

"I'm sorry, I went too far." She caught up with him.

"It's fine, I started it." She was suddenly not next to him, and there was a loud snapping noise, like bones breaking. He whirled around, and saw the most gruesome thing he'd ever seen.

Natalie had known the second they were being followed, but she hadn't been able to react quite as quickly as she had hoped. The good news is, they weren't her bones. It was Edward's mission, and she shouldn't have interfered, but if she hadn't done anything _right then_ Ed would've lost his head. She quickly backed away from the large being. It _used_ to be human. She could feel the _wrong_ just emnating from it.

"Ed, this is your mission! Do it!" He quickly did as he was told, and after that they made a tag team. She only filled in when absolutely nessessary, And the '_human' _had really good reflexes. She startled when she saw how beaten up the alchemist was.

"Harder than you thought it was?" The angel pushed his shoulder gently, and Edward sat down. She quietly handled the rest of the work, and soon the thing was out of its misery.

"You look awful, Ed." She sat next to him, and patched him up a bit. He mumbled something.

"What?" She leaned closer so she could hear him.

"Winry..... I want to talk to her." He wasn't sure if what he said was audible, but the angel girl seemed to hear him.

"You've lost some blood, but I can get you to Winry if that's what you want." He smiled slightly, and nodded. He was tugged to his feet, and felt a jolt as he was lifted from the ground. He closed his eyes. This whole flying idea was pretty intense.

Natalie was mentally punching herself in the face. DUH! Of course! He wants to see his crush. Hopefully Winry would go easy on him this time, and leave the wrench out of it.

"You're heavy, Ed." He mumbled something, and she smiled. The poor boy was probably asleep. She glanced down and saw that they were close to Resembool. She carefully touched down a short ways away, and got Ed into a standing position.

"Ed, can you walk?" He blinked a few times.

"We're here already?" Natalie chuckled, and carefully tugged Ed along.

"As the crow flies, so they say. Come on, you have blood in your hair." Ed rubbed his hair, finding the blood and twitching when the blonde strands pulled.

"As for why you saw me tonight. It's because I had to do this one visibly. I wouldn't have been able to protect you properly if I was as I usually am." The Elric nodded.

"Wait, who sent you to take care of me?" She smiled sadly.

"I'm not supposed to tell. Sorry."

Ed was a bit dizzy from blood loss, but he was doing okay. The alchemist was immensly more happy now that he was on his way to see Winry.

"Oh, one other thing." They were almost at her house, he had time for another question.

"What?" She turned to face him.

"What's your name?" The dark-haired girl grinned, blue eyes glinting.

"Natalie, at your service." She bowed slightly, bangs falling into her eyes. Ed smiled.

"All right. Have a good one." He waved, and walked to the front door. The light was still on, so someone was up. He knocked, and turned to see if Natalie was still there. All that was left was a feather. Damn, he wanted to thank her.

"Ed!? What happened? Are you all right?" The sound of Winry's voice brought him out of his stupor.

"Ah, I was on a mission. But that's not what I came here to tell you." He stepped forward and hugged his mechanic close.

"I love you."

Natalie smiled. At least she had gotten her job done. Lying to Ed felt wrong, but she wasn't supposed to give up details. It's not that she wasn't allowed to tell, it was more of him not being able to handle it. His mother had asked a favor, and Natalie couldn't say no. Edward's guardian angel watched on as the blonde finally found his happiness.


End file.
